ZTE: LTE in the USA and Windows Phone Mango in Europe

Microsoft’s new partner on the Windows Phone, Chinese manufacturer ZTE will release two WP7 Mango Smartphone’s in Europe during the third quarter, whle also making LTE handsets available in the United States.

During their general presentation about the Mango update for Windows Phone, Microsoft also announced new partners among which we find handset developers Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE.

This manufacturer, number six in the world for mobile phone’s during the first quarter of 2011 (source Gartner), was launched in 2010 by initially developing Android Smartphones (see our article) with a firm intention of making a place for themselves in the coming years.

With the addition of Windows Phone to their armoury, ZTE is reinforcing their strategy which should allow them to ship 12 million convergent handsets (Smartphones and tablets) in 2011, compared to 3 million last year as reported in May during the presentation of their annual financial results.

The Chinese group, both telecom equipment manufacturer and mobile phone developer, has a lot of ambition for the mobile telephone market (they want to break into the global Top 3 in the coming years and are planning shipping 80 million mobile handsets this year) while also wishing to benefit from the growth seen in the Smartphone’s segment.


ZTE and WP7 Mango in Europe by the end of 2011
And they won’t lose any time, with the manufacturer confirming to Reuters that they will have Windows Phone Mango Smartphone’s on shelves in the second half of 2011 in Europe and early 2012 in the United States.

ZTE, who wants to get a strong following in the United States, has also indicated that they will offer LTE compatible Smartphones (Long Term Evolution) in the second half of 2011, joining manufacturers like HTC, Motorola and Samsung who have already launched LTE products.

While ZTE is already quite present in the global market, it is generally as a white manufacturer with their products rebadged by carriers. The Chinese manufacturer now wants to exist on the strength of their own brand like HTC, who has finally managed some success after many years of trying.